


Silent Running

by Salmon_I



Series: To the Moon and Back [15]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alien Powers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Flashbacks, Gen, Government Conspiracy, Long ass explanations, Not kidding this part of the series is all the explanations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-16 10:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21506101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: “Sheriff.”  Max greeted as they approached her.“Evans.”  She nodded, glancing at the gathered group.  “Have to admit, you were the surprise to me, Cameron.  Thought you were on Manes’s payroll.”“I was.”  Cam admitted.“What is this place?”  Liz asked.“This is Caulfield.  It was a regular prison, back in the day.  It was later appropriated by Project Shepherd to house what was known as Project Ophiuchus.”  Came the explanation.
Series: To the Moon and Back [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1283798
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

Two days passed after the shoot out on the highway, and Kyle didn’t go to see his mother once. He was still reeling with everything he’d learned, and he wasn’t ready yet to face her again with both the secrets he knew and the ones he didn’t yet understand. Liz had checked on him when she came back to town. Apparently, Alex had filled her in on what had happened. 

“How are you? Really?” She asked him.

“Honestly? I don’t know.” Was the only answer he could give.

“Isobel’s going to try and help Mimi. She and Maria have been practicing with her powers.”

“Maria DeLuca and Isobel Evans working together. You sure the world isn’t ending?”

“They’ve been getting along frighteningly well. We might all be in trouble.”

“How’s your patient?”

“Oh, fully recovered. He’s been hiding in the UFO Emporium with Noah, though. Whether to avoid all the loving attention of his siblings or because he isn’t ready to face Alex, I’m not sure.”

“How are you handling this?”

“I don’t know. I mean, Rosa’s killer is dead, but somehow…”

“It doesn’t help as much as you thought?”

“It’s a closure, but… she’s still gone. Y’know?”

“I get it.” He’d hesitated before continuing. “Liz, there’s something I have to tell you. Something I found out.”

“About what?”

“Rosa and my father. They weren’t having an affair.”

“Kyle, look-”

“Let me finish. In his cabin there was a trunk with some things inside… Liz, Rosa was his daughter.”

Liz stared, taken off guard. He could see the wheels begin to turn in her head. “Your father had an affair with my mother.”

“Yeah. That’s why he was trying to help Rosa.”

“You lost a sister, too.” Liz pointed out.

As secrets went, this one felt less painful now that it was shared. A connection he and Liz had, even though it came as much from loss as anything. The full story about his father’s involvement with Project Shepherd was the one he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face.

He still wasn’t sure he was ready when his mother sent out a text with an address. A quick search placed it at as belonging to a closed prison north of Roswell known as Caulfield. They ended up meeting up at Max’s first, even though Kyle knew they would choose to go. From there they left as a group, though most of them still drove their own vehicles, following the highway to the old prison.

A patrol car was parked outside the abandoned building, and his mother was waiting for them on the steps alone.

“Sheriff.” Max greeted as they approached her.

“Evans.” She nodded, glancing at the gathered group. “Have to admit, you were the surprise to me, Cameron. Thought you were on Manes’s payroll.”

“I was.” Cam admitted.

“What is this place?” Liz asked.

“This is Caulfield. It was a regular prison, back in the day. It was later appropriated by Project Shepherd to house what was known as Project Ophiuchus.” Came the explanation.

“Ophiuchus said there were twelve other subjects. Manes said they were all killed shortly after reaching adulthood.” Michael spoke up. “That true?”

“That’s what the records show, yes.”

“And father supported this?” Kyle couldn’t help but speak up, his mind struggling to accept that concept with the man he’d known. “Kept children imprisoned here? Let them be experimented on and killed?”

“No, of course not. Jim wasn’t aware of Project Ophiuchus for most of its existence.” His mother assured him.

“Most of?” Kyle latched onto those words. That meant he’d known about it for at least a little while.

“Can we start at the beginning?” Isobel interrupted. “Like what happened the night of the crash?”

“It’s not a pretty beginning. The crash was treated as a hostile invasion at the time. There was violence on both sides. Some alien survivors escaped. Most were killed. Thirteen pods holding thirteen children of various ages were found in the wreckage. They were held at a government facility for decades.” The explanation didn’t ease any of the tension from the group.

“How many escaped?” Max asked. Kyle remembered what Liz had told him about there having been an alien on the reservation that had died around the time the siblings had emerged from their pods.

“I don’t think they ever knew for certain. Over the decades, there’s been a few reports of strange murders. A few skirmishes that ended with soldiers dead. Short of bodies showing up dead with glowing handprints, though, there hasn’t been much of a trail.”

“Manes said Jim Valenti protected us.” Michael spoke up again. Kyle glanced at him sharply at the new information, before turning back to his mother.

“Jim suspected you three were survivors. But three children hardly seemed a threat to public safety. The medical records from your initial rescue were conveniently misplaced. Without those records, there was no proof you were anything but human.”

“He protected us, but not Ophiuchus?”

“Dr Holden was running Project Ophiuchus before either Jim or Jesse Manes was involved. When Jesse Manes took over Project Shepherd, he learned about Project Ophiuchus, but Jim wasn’t involved until Subject Thirteen.”

“Who we knew as Ophiuchus.” Michael filled in. Kyle wondered just how much the alien woman, and Jesse Manes, had said during his brief captivity with them.

“Jim met Ophiuchus when she was twelve. He began to suspect Manes and Holden were weaponizing her, but it was hard to prove. Then she started experiencing blackouts at fifteen.”

“Blackouts?” Isobel spoke up.

“She said she connected to your mind the night…” Michael couldn’t finish the sentence.

Isobel closed her eyes, and Noah wrapped his arms around her, whispering something Kyle couldn’t hear. She nodded. “So what happened then?”

“Jim suggested they bring in a psychological consultant to try to work with Ophiuchus.” His mother turned to look at Maria. “Mimi DeLuca.”

“My mother was involved with this?” Maria’s voice was shocked. Kyle could understand her feelings all too well. Knowing his father was involved with Project Shepherd, let alone Project Ophiuchus, had shaken him to his core.

“She worked with Ophiuchus, trying to help her. She and Jim plotted to help Ophiuchus escape - get her a better life. It didn’t work out that way.”

“But Ophiuchus escaped eight years ago.” Michael spoke up again. “That’s why Project Shepherd was shut down. That’s two years after she killed Rosa.”

“They didn’t know at the time who had killed Rosa. They had no reason to suspect Ophiuchus had done it from captivity. There was a different alien, one who had evaded capture several times over the years. He was the main suspect in Rosa, Kate, and Jasmin’s deaths. But, after they helped Ophiuchus get out of Caulfield, bodies started to pile up. Jim found out the truth too late.”

“Why the murders?” Max asked. “She was finally free.”

“Agents of Project Shepherd, for the most part. It may officially have been shut down, but Jesse Manes didn’t let it go. Ophiuchus was waging war against him. They were just collateral damage.”

“You mentioned that Ophiuchus death would be reported to the correct authorities.” Alex spoke up. “That means Project Shepherd may be shut down, but something is still running.”

“Project Clean Slate. Jim was given a branch after the shut down of Project Shepherd. I was given control after his death.”

“And what’s your purpose?”

“The original purpose of Project Shepherd before things got out of hand. A cover-up to keep the public from learning about aliens.”

“The person using Holden’s name to cover up the deaths at the morgue isn’t Jesse - it’s you.” Cam spoke up.

“It’s someone on Project Clean Slate’s payroll. However, Jesse has had backers and agents of his own. Even with him gone - I can’t say for certain what will happen with the remaining members of Project Shepherd.”

“Do you know who they are?” Alex asked.

“Are you planning on killing them?”

“Just a strongly worded conversation or two.”

“Denied, Captain. Unless you’d be interested in being an agent of Project Clean Slate.”

“I might consider that.”

“Alex!” Michael scowled at him.

“It’s not a bad idea.” Max spoke up.

“The more we know, the better.” Alex added.

Michael whirled around and stormed back to his truck. “I’ll go.” Noah volunteered, following after him.

Isobel glared at Max and Alex. “You two are idiots.” She informed them.

“What?” Max and Alex asked in unison.

Shaking her head in resignation, she turned back to where his mother stood, waiting. “You mentioned graves for the other aliens.”

“The graveyard out back of the prison. West corner. There’s no names. Just the dates.”

“I’ll go with you.” Maria volunteered. Isobel nodded, and the two started to skirt the outside of the prison.

“Are the files for Project Ophiuchus here?” Alex asked.

“They are.”

“Can we see them?” Liz spoke up.

“...you can. There’s one more thing you should know, though, Liz.”

“What?”

“Jesse Manes recruited Rosa Ortecho to Project Shepherd. She visited Caulfield a few times.”

Liz froze, and Kyle didn’t blame her. It made sense, though. Ophiuchus had to have seen Rosa somewhere. Liz stormed inside ahead of anyone else. Kyle noted that Michael and Noah had already left. Max, Cam, and Alex were following Liz inside, and after a moment he followed as well.

* * *

The sun was almost set by the time the group slowly left Caulfield. Kyle waited by his mother’s patrol car until they were the only ones left. She came over to him, and together they watched as the sun finished setting. “Why did neither of you ever tell me?” He finally asked.

“You had a good life, Kyle. We were both so proud of you. The last thing we wanted was to get you involved in this.”

“Rosa was involved.”

“And just like with you, that was because of Jesse Manes.”

“...did you always know? About Rosa? About Dad and…”

“He told me toward the end.”

“And you still didn’t tell me.”

“Sometimes knowing the truth doesn’t make things better.”

In a way, she was right. His whole world had been turned upside down by everything he’d learned. His view of his father had definitely changed. “I guess not.”

“Your father was a good man, Kyle. He may not have always done the right thing. But for the most part, he tried. Don’t let his mistakes cloud that.”

“I’ll try.” He promised. It was the best he could do. “But I also don’t think I can just go back to burying my head in the sand.”

“Meaning?”

“I’m guessing Evans, Alex, and Cam applied for your Project Clean Slate. Add me to the list.”

“Kyle-”

“I’m not changing my mind.”

His mother sighed, shaking her head in resignation. “Just as stubborn as your father.”

Kyle couldn’t help but smile. “I’m pretty sure I got that from you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I borrowed the name Project Clean Slate from the books so I wouldn't have to think up a new name. XD  
> Next chapter is Mimi, Maria, and Isobel.


	2. Chapter 2

Maria had brought items from their home for Mimi's room at the facility. Her favorite blanket. A picture of Mimi and Maria when Maria was a child - she had explained to her that she had removed any of herself older when it became clear her mother could no longer recognize her. A few decorations; a vase of flowers. Just small touches to try to turn something that resembled a cross between a hospital room and a hotel room into something cozier. Something lived in.

"It's you again." Mimi's greeting was friendly enough, but it was clear she had no idea who Maria was. It was the greeting you gave a friendly stranger, not a daughter. Isobel wasn't sure how Maria kept the smile on her face under the circumstances. 

"Hi, Mimi." Maria's tone held only a hint of the strain she had to be feeling. "I brought a friend today."

Mimi turned an assessing gaze on her, and despite her missing memories, there was something penetrating in her eyes. As if she could see more of her than Isobel liked people to see. "You remind me of someone." She finally said.

"I'm Isobel Evans-Bracken, Miss DeLuca." She introduced herself.

"Evans… are you related to Ann's husband?"

"You could say that."

"The Evans and I have never seen eye to eye, no offense."

"None taken." Isobel assured her. "I didn't know you knew each other, actually."

"It's Roswell." Mimi offered as an explanation.

"That's true." Isobel admitted. She supposed she hadn't contemplated what that meant in terms of their parents. What had it been like growing up in Roswell then? When it had been even more of a small town than it was now?

Maria was closing the door and window curtains. "Isobel heard about your psychic abilities. She was really hoping you could read her palm."

They had felt that was the best way to excuse her presence, and allow her close to Mimi. She felt nervous about their plan, but time wasn't on their side. Soon Mimi's deterioration would require more constant vigilance from the nursing staff. Maria and her had been practicing almost nightly with her powers, and she'd been able to recall memories for them easily in their recent experiments. Her powers seemed to be strengthening the more they practiced, too. Hinting that their prolonged hiding of their powers may have caused some of their issues with using them. But, as with so much involving their powers, that was only speculation.

"You don't seem the type to believe."

"I'm hoping you will change my mind."

Mimi gestured to the chair next to her bed, and Isobel took the hint. Maria came to stand next to her and Isobel took her hand even as she gave her other to Mimi.

"What are you seeking, Isobel Evans?"

Isobel met her gaze. "The truth." The room faded to blurred colors around them, as she pulled Maria into Mimi's mindscape. It was more blurred than normal. A mist seeped through the room, separating them from Mimi in a way that was unfamiliar to her. She pressed on anyway. "Do you remember Ophiuchus?"

Mimi frowned, her face crinkling in confusion. "Ophiuchus is the thirteenth zodiac."

"Not the star sign. The woman. The one from Project Shepherd."

"Project Shepherd…?"

"I need you to remember. I need you to show me Ophiuchus."

The room blurred further and then focused. Instead of the room in the nursing facility, they were in a corridor of Caulfield. Mimi and Jim Valenti were following an old woman as she approached a metal door. A mist still swirled around them and Isobel was certain it wasn't part of what they were watching. It was a manifestation of what was happening to Mimi's mind.

"...complete waste of all our time." The elderly woman complained.

"That's your opinion, Dr Holden. It isn't mine." Jim Valenti told her.

"I've run this project for over thirty years, Valenti. I think I have a better understanding of these creatures' psyche than you."

"Creature? That's what you call her?" Mimi from the memory narrowed her eyes at the other woman.

"Subject Thirteen may resemble a human teenager, but it isn't. This species is dangerous. You should both remember that."

Mimi and Jim exchanged a look that spoke volumes of what they thought about the Doctor's opinion as she opened the metal door and led them into a corridor filled with glass doors rooms. Toward the middle was one that resembled a bedroom. In it a teenage Ophiuchus sat on her bed, staring at a drawing of the desert.

"It drew that a couple of weeks ago. Hasn't stopped staring at it since." Dr Holden sounded annoyed by the fact.

"That was after the blackouts started." Jim supplies for Mimi.

"Yes, yes." Dr Holden agreed, still annoyed. "It was all in my report."

"I read it." Jim's tone was dry. "We can take it from here, Doctor."

"There are cameras." Holden bristled. "Trust me when I say I'll be reviewing your interactions with Subject Thirteen later."

"I believe it." Jim replied cooly, and it was only after the clang of the metal door at the end of the corridor could be heard closing that he spoke again. "What do you think?"

"I think this place is awful." Mimi responded. 

Jim glanced down the corridor, but didn't reply directly to the accusation in Mimi's tone. "About Subject Thirteen."

"Is that really her name?"

"She doesn't have a name, Mimi. She's Subject Thirteen of Project Ophiuchus."

"Ophiuchus." She turned to find the teenage girl was no longer staring blankly at the picture, but instead was looking at them. "Open the door, Jim."

There was a moment's hesitation before he complied, using a hand scanner to the left of the door. The glass slid open, and the two of them entered.

"You're new." Were the first words the teenager on the bed spoke.

"That's right. My name is Mimi DeLuca. It's nice to meet you, Ophiuchus."

She tilted her head, confused. "Ophiuchus?"

"I understand you haven't been given a name. I like Ophiuchus. Do you?"

"Ophiuchus." She seemed to taste the name.

"For short, I could call you Ophi, or Fia." She sat down on the floor, since there didn't seem to be more than one chair in the room.

"You're sitting on the floor." Ophiuchus pointed out.

"Yes, I am." Mimi agreed.

"Do humans do that?"

"Sometimes."

"...can I?"

"Sure, come on down."

As Ophiuchus climbed off her bed, the memory faded around them, and they were back in the blurred landscape of the room with Mimi. The mist around them and between them had grown thicker.

"The alien. Behind the glass." Mimi raised her hand to her head. "Like in the movies?"

"Not a movie, it was real. Do you remember her? Did you ever take Rosa Ortecho to meet her?" Isobel asked her. 

Mimi frowned in response, one hand clenching. "No, I wasn't the one who brought Rosa there. That was Jesse Manes."

"Show me."

When the room changed around them, instead of showing the room at Caulfield, Mimi and Rosa were alone in the stockroom of The Wild Pony. 

"I still can't believe Jesse Manes took you to Caulfield." Mimi's movements were angry and choppy as she sorted the shelves.

"So I met the alien girl. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that Project Shepherd can be dangerous. And Ophiuchus is a troubled young woman."

"She just seems lonely to me." Rosa replied.

"That is a small part of it, yes. But there's a lot more. She's been isolated for a long time, Rosa. She doesn't understand things that would seem obvious to you or me."

"So she's a little weird. So what? Or do you buy the dangerous invasive species bullshit Manes goes on about?"

"I believe there's equally good and bad in anyone." Mimi answered. "Including Ophiuchus. But the way she's been raised has left her with rather contorted notions on the subject. I'm trying to teach her, but who knows what Holden and Manes are teaching her?"

"So, I can help." Rosa responded. "I can teach her about the world."

"I'd rather you weren't involved with any of this. I don't like this path for you, Rosa."

"It's not a full-time gig. I didn't sign a contract."

"It's not that simple, not with Jesse Manes."

"I can handle myself."

"I hope so. You deserve a bright future. Caulfield's future lies in darkness."

Isobel wasn't sure what to think of any of what she was seeing. She hadn't known about Ophiuchus for long, but she'd been responsible for so much of all their suffering. It was hard to watch Mimi and Rosa be sympathetic about someone who had destroyed her and her brother's lives. Who had nearly killed Michael, and used her like a puppet. Ophiuchus had been a victim of Project Shepherd, but she was still a murderer who had used her to kill three of her own victims.

The memory faded, but the mist around them grew even thicker. She could no longer see Mimi's face clearly through it.

"What's happening?" Maria asked her.

"I don't think this is natural." Isobel told her. "I think it's something Ophiuchus did. There's something she didn't want your mother to remember, and we're getting closer to it."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"I can try." Isobel reached out a hand, trying to think about the fog dissipating so they could see clearly.

Mimi gave a cry, holding her head.

"Mom!" Maria tried to step forward, but Isobel held onto her hand tightly.

"Don't break the connection!" She insisted, she could feel herself getting weaker, but she pressed on anyway. "If she could do this, I can undo it. I can."

The mist dissolved, the space around them turning into a cabin Isobel was unfamiliar with, but that made Maria gasp. Mimi and Jim Valenti were standing in what seemed to be the main living room, but a metal hatch sat open in the middle of the floor.

"How can you be certain it's Ophiuchus?" Mimi was asking. "Cetus is still out there, and you know what he's capable of."

"Because a report about Escapee One came in from another location at the same time. And if he isn't here, in Roswell, then every death in the last seven years has been Ophiuchus." Jim told her.

"You think she killed Rosa." Mimi realized.

"She's capable of the same type of mind control as Cetus. Holden's reports show that. She could have been using someone else's body during the final years of her imprisonment."

"Isobel Evans." Mimi put the pieces together.

"It was natural at the time to assume Cetus used her to get close to Rosa because she'd become a Project Shepherd Agent, but-"

"Rosa had done very little to draw his attention. Ophiuchus, on the other hand… how did we miss this?"

"It's Jesse Manes she's after. Everyone else is just collateral damage. But we have to stop her."

"So we just turn her in? Send her back to the life we pulled her out of four years ago?"

"It won't be exactly the same. Project Shepherd is over and Project Clean Slate isn't the same."

"How can you be sure?"

"Eight people are dead, Mimi. That's what I'm sure of."

"You're the same as him." Ophiuchus's voice suddenly broke into the conversation.

The two turned to find her standing in the doorway of the cabin. "Fia, listen to me-" Mimi stepped forward.

Ophiuchus shook her head. "I knew humans couldn't be trusted. You're all the enemy."

"We aren't your enemy." Mimi told her. "You know that."

"All leaks must be silenced. All traitors eliminated. " Ophiuchus lunged toward her.

"Mimi, watch out!" Jim pushed her out of the way. Ophiuchus's hands closed around his head and he screamed from whatever she did with her powers.

"No!" Mimi was on her feet, and Ophiuchus released him to collapse unconscious on the floor, turning to her.

For a moment Ophiuchus hesitated, then she focused her powers again. "You won't remember this. Or me. Aliens only exist in movies."

Mimi in the memory stumbled, her eyes growing distant. As Ophiuchus moved to close and cover the hatch, Mimi wandered outside in her confusion. The memory faded, and the scenery returned to the blurred room. The mist, though, was gone.

"I remember." Mimi was clear in front of them again. "I remember everything."

"You did it!" Maria turned to Isobel, but quickly froze. "Isobel, you need to stop now."

Isobel stared at her for a moment, then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last three chapter piece to go. One more Echo, one more Malex, and one more Group Scene. As long as I can get one piece up a week, I will actually manage to finish this story before Season 2 starts.


End file.
